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Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Gettin' Started

In the first four months that I have been single, a lot has happened in my life. I started working two tutoring jobs (which I love), started training for a half marathon, fell madly in love with Florida, made some super awesome new friends, saw the good, bad, and weird in people, kicked ass in my first semester of grad school, and survived my 3 weeks of winter in Chicago. I have grown a lot since September and I am happier in my life now than I could have ever imagined. I've also come to accept the fact that I'm a little bit of an undercover diva, in that I do what I want, say what I want, and (usually) get what I want, although nothing is handed to me and I work hard for everything I have. It's an aspect of my personality that I embrace, and I like to think of it more as being "driven," rather than being a "diva," but that's open to interpretation. I've also had a lot of strange encounters with (predominantly) men, which leads me to believe that my life has become some sort of a sitcom. It also led me to starting my blog :)

For 2013, I have the hopes of trying new things, and I'm starting with this blog. I love to post about my successes on Facebook, post about my fitness, post pictures of my delicious meals, and create little status updates that give insight into the weirdness of my life. However, I get sick of sharing everything on Facebook, and I'm sure other people do as well. I'm going to start blogging most of my success, meals, and the general sitcom-ness of my life on this little blog (let's see how long I stick with this). Now, family and friends have the option of CHOOSING to see what's going on in my life, instead of being subjected to it on Facebook :)

I PROMISE this post is almost over, but tonight for dinner I made vegetarian shepherd's pie. I adapted the recipe from my Hungry Girl to the Max cookbook (Thanks Santa!). I used red lentils(in place of ground turkey), omitted the onion (I have none), used frozen green beans only (had no mixed veggies), and added cubed, Russet potatoes. Recipe and pictures follow:

Squash Shepherd's Pie:

3 1/2 cups cubed butternut squash

1/2 cup (dry) lentils

1/2 tsp garlic

salt (to taste)

dash garlic powder

dash onion powder

dash black pepper

3/4 cup gravy (i made my own)

1 1/2 cups frozen green beans (thawed)

1 Russet potato (cubed)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a nonstick pan with cooking spray. Place squash in a microwave safe bowl along with 2 tbsp water. Cover and microwave for 6 minutes (or until soft). Boil the lentils (per directions). Drain lentils. Peel and cube the Russet potato. Mix potato cubes, lentils, pepper, garlic powder, onion power, and black pepper together and then add to the greased dish. Top evenly with gravy, then add the frozen vegetables. Mash the butternut squash with butter and salt; add this layer to the veggies. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until the topping is firm!